The Centre is unlikely to procure Bharat Biotech‘s intranasal vaccine due to the low demand of precaution doses and receding Covid-19 cases, said people aware of the matter.
“The government may not procure it. The vaccine will, however, be available in the private hospitals,” a government official said on condition of anonymity.
Bharat Biotech has made its intranasal Covid-19 vaccine iNNOVACC available on CoWin, priced at ₹800 per dose for private markets and ₹325 for the central and state governments.
The intranasal vaccine will be rolled out as a booster dose in the fourth week of January for those above 18 years of age.
Hospital chains executives said they have initiated discussions with Bharat Biotech to procure the vaccine in small quantities.
“We are in touch with the company and will buy it small quantities. Though the demand has not increased for precaution doses, we want to give another option to those who want a heterologous booster,” said a senior executive with a private hospital in Delhi, who did not wish to be identified.
iNCOVACC is the world’s first Intranasal vaccine for Covid-19 to receive approval for the primary 2-dose schedule, and as a heterologous booster dose.
Earlier last month, Bharat Biotech received approval from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation to use iNCOVACC as a heterologous booster.
iNCOVACC was developed in partnership with Washington University, St. Louis, which had designed and developed the recombinant adenoviral vectored construct and evaluated in preclinical studies for efficacy. The vaccine is stable at 2-8°C for easy storage and distribution. Bharat Biotech has established large manufacturing capabilities at multiple sites across India, including Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Telangana.
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